1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to construction materials and more particularly to a reinforced decorative composite material that includes a light-weight material, preferably decorative, such as a small number of layers of resin-impregnated paper, and a strengthening panel such as fiberglass reinforced plastic (“FRP”) secured together, and to the manufacture of such a composite material.
2. Description of Related Art
High pressure laminate materials have been manufactured and sold for many years, and are familiar to many from their wide-spread use in kitchens and areas requiring very durable and decorative surface attributes. Such laminates are typically made of layers of paper impregnated with resin, compressed in a press or the like and heated to produce the desired laminate. One layer of paper may have a decorative pattern that remains visible in the finished product. The exact types of paper and of resins used, as well as the pressures, equipment and temperatures used, and the precise order of steps, are well known to those in the art. Typically, five to seven layers of paper may be incorporated in such a laminate material. A great variety of products of this type are commercially available from the Formica Corporation, under the trademark Formica, owned by that company. Examples of techniques and materials used in the manufacture of such laminates can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,558,906, assigned on its face to Formica Technology Inc., the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, although it is to be understood that the present inventor does not claim ownership of the processes claimed in that patent, which are believed to be owned by that patent's assignee of record.
HPL products, however, are generally brittle enough that they must be mounted on a layer of wood or other material of sufficient strength and rigidity, for use in the kitchen, and on any horizontal surface. Vertical surface applications of HPL's can be enhanced by a pre-laminated panel with the HPL as the outward side. A primary application of such a panel will likely be vertical wall surfaces, where drywall is a common substrate.
It is desirable to be able to use HPL products in environments where the product will be exposed to relatively high levels of wear and tear, moisture, and mechanical loads, without the need to mount the HPL on a mechanically strong layer of wood or other materials. For example, it would be desirable to be able to use decorative materials like HPL products in vertical wall applications in schools, hospitals, restaurants and other public areas that are subject to large amounts of traffic, and where conventional HPL cannot easily be used.
The present inventor has reduced to practice an invention which meets that object, and has disclosed that invention in his previously-filed patent application (application Ser. No. 10/081,629, filed Feb. 20, 2002), the entire content of which is hereby incorporated by reference. One aspect of that invention is a reinforced composite material that includes a laminate panel, a strengthening panel that includes a reinforcement embedded therein, and a layer of adhesive disposed between the laminate panel and the strengthening panel to adhere the laminate panel and the strengthening panel together. Preferably, the reinforcement in the strengthening panel may be fiberglass fibers, randomly oriented, or it may be provided in the form of a mesh or the like. In either case, the strengthening panel is preferably a plastic (polymeric) material of the type known as fiberglass reinforced polyester.
Nonetheless, it would be desirable to provide still greater improvements of the inventor's previous work.
The inventor notes the existence of existing products that have a wood/fiber core to which melamine-resin impregnated paper is secured. To the inventor's knowledge, however, no one has previously considered, or succeeded in, directly fusing papers or foil to a fiberglass-reinforced plastic panel.